As Sharq al Awsat - Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine; None Other Than Thugocracy

None Other Than Thugocracy

http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=7799

26/01/2007
Tariq Alhomayed

Have you ever heard of an occupied country entangling itself in civil war, or the people of this occupied land killing each other instead of confronting the enemy? We all know that an enemy is a uniting factor. This is what is happening in Palestine and Iraq.

 

Have you ever heard of a country that emerges from a bloody civil war and to where investors come in order to rebuild the country and live there, whilst it awaits one million tourists and its opposition talks about debts; the country that finds itself, both nation and government, embroiled in a war with a merciless enemy, that is Israel, at the order of an organization that claims it is defending the country as it suffers from losses and debts that are more than it can bear? After all that, and instead of holding that organization to account, it took to the streets, placing the country on the brink of a new civil war, the pretext for which is holding the "agent" and "treacherous" government to account.

 

It is well known that it is impossible to see a picture of the organization's leader unaccompanied by the images of Khomeini or Khamenei, and that the organization defends the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, not the Syrian "presence" as the organization prefers to call it, as if two kinds of occupation exist; a commendable occupation and a devious occupation. The country is Lebanon, the organization is Hezbollah and the leader is Hassan Nasrallah!

 

All of the aforementioned has happened in Palestine, in Iraq and in Lebanon; all in the name of democracy.

 

Before them, Saddam Hussein rode the wave of democracy and emerged successful in elections winning 100% of the votes, telling us that this was democracy. The truth is that all that we witness has no relation to democracy but is rather 'thugocracy'. It is thuggery and corruption of the land, people and future.

 

Mistakes are repeating in our Arab world, and the region is continuously being subjected to thuggery. The former prime minister of Lebanon [a reference to Hariri] never shot one bullet throughout his life and built schools rather than a militia, yet Hezbollah and its supporters come out to argue that the International Tribunal to investigate the circumstances surrounding his assassination violates the sovereignty of Lebanon!

 

Within two years in Lebanon, assassinations of around twenty people have been carried out and not one person has been held responsible. The only concern that the opposition has is bringing down the government and we all know that those who were assassinated were fighting against one side and shared one common goal!

 

When we argue that there is a state of thuggery, there is no emotion involved. Rather, this is an accurate description of what is happening in our Arab world today; the world of repeated mistakes. Saddam Hussein had the Quran written in his own blood and Maliki says that God chose Iraq as the country to fight terrorism. We know that the roads in Baghdad today have divided according to sect and are either Sunni or Shia roads.

 

The Palestinians are fighting amongst themselves for leadership and the "Hamas Brotherhood" is now Iranian. The Lebanese are facing turbulent times, and after a fierce civil war, Beirut today is on the brink of a new civil war and if that surfaces, history will never forget Hassan Nasrallah, Syria or Iran. We are the farthest we could ever be from democracy, as what we are witnessing today is nothing but thugocracy. There is no rationality or sense of responsibility. All that we see is the permanent state of thuggery and of course, we are the victims.

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Tariq Alhomayed
Tariq Alhomayed is the Editor-in-Chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, the youngest person to be appointed that position. Mr. Alhomayed has an acclaimed and distinguished career as a Journalist and has held many key positions in the field including; Assistant Editor-in-Chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, Managing Editor of Asharq Al-Awsat in Saudi Arabia, Head of Asharq Al-Awsat Newspaper's Bureau-Jeddah, Correspondent for Al - Madina Newspaper in Washington D.C. from 1998 to Aug 2000. Mr. Alhomyed has been a guest analyst and commentator on numerous news and current affair programs including: the BBC, German TV, Al Arabiya, Al- Hurra, LBC and the acclaimed Imad Live's four-part series on terrorism and reformation in Saudi Arabia. He is also the first Journalist to conduct an interview with Osama Bin Ladin's Mother. Mr. Alhomayed holds a BA degree in Media studies from King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, and has also completed his Introductory courses towards a Master's degree from George Washington University in Washington D.C. He is based in London.